It was a new look Tanworth Taipans that travelled to Colebridge yesterday evening ( October 18th ) , having recruited both Jason Rainey over the Summer, and, more recently , Gareth Don. 

They came away with little reward , being on the wrong end of an 8-2 score line.

As ever with these matters the scorecard does not reveal the closeness of the contest , if Don, nursing a shoulder injury , had some luck during his match with Evetts , then none of those present saw it. As it was he lost in five , and his debut was marked by only a single win, over Richard Grover. 

Evetts was fortunate to secure a treble , as his matches against both Don and Jason Rainey were close run affairs.

The real star of the show , and the anchor of the Pasty win, was John Taylor , with a languorous display of long limbed defending , a style of play all too rare in modern table tennis. The Littleton based chopper did not drop an end all evening, a performance of some class. 

For the Taipans , Tim Lawrence earned a five set victory over Grover as did Don ( in four ), but the Pasties latest recruit did not return home empty handed , after a determined set against Rainey resulted in his first win in Pasty colours. 

Stratford League matches are good natured affairs and this match was no exception , with a handsome selection of calorie free chocolate treats amongst the refreshments.